Category: pic spam

I think saying, “What a year!” is quite the understatement. There have been so many changes, it’s hard to know where to start. Even someone like me, who pretty much only follows Morning Musume, couldn’t help but take notice. I don’t think any group, except Tsubaki Factory is exempt from the relentless changes this year. Although they did unexpectedly get good.

Country Girls got split up and placed into other groups; Momoko finally graduated, but then Shige decided to return; Kobushi Factory got chopped from 8 to 5 without ceremony; Kuudo Harukins left us for acting; Some of the Eggs (they will always be Eggs to me) debuted with a fabulous, fabulous song.

There’s probably more, but let’s try and talk about one thing at a time, shall we? This is gonna be LONG.

I won’t promise you that I’ll post more next year, because I do that almost every year and fail. I will say that my fandom is not over, even if I don’t post much, and if I have something to talk about, I will talk about it. I think the unceremonious (for me) loss of Idolminded put a huge dent in my motivation. Pretty feeble, I know. I didn’t realize how much I relied on it and took it for granted.

For those unaware, Idolminded (originally International Wota) was a site that gathered different articles/posts from the idol blogosphere for people to easily access. Sometimes they’d just describe the articles, but sometimes they’d comment on them, or feature them specifically, especially if multiple authors had weighed in on a certain subject.

I received so much encouragement, in regards to my writing, and so much information, in regards to the fandom. Because of this site, people started to read mine and I’ve always been humbled and grateful for that. In October 2015 they stopped posting. I haven’t been able to discover why, but I’m guessing it’s just that real life became more important and that is absolutely understandable.

I just want to thank anyone and everyone involved in that site, if they are reading this, for all the confidence you’ve given me over the years and all your hard work. You have no idea how much you’ve helped this community. And I hope we’ll all keep writing and finding each other as long as this fandom continues. m (_ _) m

I really should try out some forums, huh?

Anyway, I didn’t post much this year, of course, but that’s not to say I didn’t notice anything that happened. Like I said, I felt a distinct lack of motivation. I think I’ve stopped thinking of posting as fun and started to feel obligated. I don’t like that. I don’t see why it can’t be both. H!P is still a great love of mine, after all.

Despite what so many say, I don’t think H!P ever really stagnates, it just doesn’t always change as fast as people want, or in the way that people expect. In fact I think sometimes the problem is the opposite: that H!P stays the same for a while and people have no attention span don’t like that.

[Feb. 2, 2016: I wrote this in 2014 and never finished it. I should say I “capped this” but never finished the post about it. I mean, look at this:]

Everybody seems to have compared TokiSora to As for One Day and Nachatte Renai, or even Shouganai Yume Oibito. They don’t release ballads as singles very often. I’m not even sure if this is considered a ballad exactly, but it’s certainly different from everything this incarnation of Momusu has released. Is it anything like all these old songs?

Well, it certainly has the dream-like haze of As for One Day, the bitter-sweetness (and strings) of Nanchatte and the layered harmonies of Shougani.

[And that is all I have. I assume I had a lot more to say back in 2014, but now I guess I’ll have to finish two years later. I will have to use the caps I still have and a new perspective in the aftermath of Tsunku stepping down as producer. As is the case with all of these ‘Lost’ posts, I apologize for how late/non-existent it is. ]

[POST DATE: So here is another one that I wrote way back in 2014…and never finished. I can’t remember where I was going with it, but since it’s long enough that deleting it would be a waste, I’m going to give you what I had already. Then, just like the previous ‘Lost Post’ we’ll wrap up with a pic spam. I apologize that this is now a year or so late.]

Momusu is back in commercials, ladies and gents. And the result is catchy, catchy stuff. I don’t actually mind the fact that this song was written so that they could sell cell phones (or cell phone plans…whatever). In fact, I’d actually love a compilation of all their commercial jingles. There was this song they did for an iced tea commercial back in 2001 that I really loved…

I’m getting off-topic. Since that sort of compilation is impossible, I can at least be content with this catchy piece of work. The single, along with the other A-side (that’s a different post) has already achieved another number one for our girls AND a new record for the group: 5 consecutive number ones on Oricon weekly single ranking. That has never happened in the history of the group before. First week sales?

[JAN 29, 2016:So here we are in 2016 and I never finished this post. I capped the hell out of this pv and I had basically the entire entry done, but I just never got around to finishing. It would be a waste to scrap it, so I decided to finish it now. I started it before Tsunku’s revelation about his vocal chords and before we knew he’d stopped producing, so bear that in mind while reading. I apologize for being so late.]

This is the last of our triple-a side pvs. This is also the only song that wasn’t penned by Tsunku. It’s becoming a thing for each group to have three singles in one and while it’s unusual for anyone else to write for Momusu, it seems like something we can expect now.

This would be the song that doesn’t sound precisely like a Momusu song. Maybe that’s why it isn’t really my favourite of the three.

This, ladies and gents, is what I’m talking about. Forgive me for being so damn late about it.

At the start of the year our new leaders, Fuku-hime and Sub-leader Derp Iikubo appeared on a Fuji TV program called, ‘Big Chance’. Three directors used the song Wagamama ki no Mama Ai no Joke to create three separate and completely different pvs for an opportunity to direct a pv in the future. It’s a really cool idea, a great (aptly named) chance for the aspiring directors and another way for Momusu to remind people that they’re still making music.

The winner? Shibue Shuuhei, for this. I’d describe it as almost Momoiro Clover Z-level crack-tastic. There’s a sort of frenzied humour to it. There’s still the close-ups and dance-shots you’d expect, but you’re not sure where it’s going until it explodes and that made it a joy to watch.

There is also a refreshing blue version (Sugiyama Hiroki’s), in which everyone looks muted and beautiful in the cloudless sunshine; and there is my favourite, the rain-soaked, sexy, black-and-white awesome of this one (Konno Emi). I think the reason Shibue’s version won is not only because of the creativity involved, but because it wasn’t just relying on the dance or the girls being pretty. It let the girls do something; it allowed an H!P song to have a concept.

What isn’t to love about Momusu’s Kimi wa Kawari wa Iyashinaide pv? Let’s not complain about how we’ve seen green-screen before because we should be used to that by now. I haven’t seen a pv with an actual story or concept since maybe The Manpower (Ogawa taking a big bite of pumpkin is awesome. Who wouldn’t choose pumpkin over celery?). We’ve seen everything in this pv before. The choreography is a mix of the jumps and flails and lurches we’ve already seen and the song is robo-musume to the core with that one dipping note that’s in every song (“SOooooOH!).

I’ve still enjoyed them all. This one didn’t even register as more-of-the-same because it’s so awesome. One could argue that I’m just used to it now, but that would be grumpy of you and we’re having a GENKI 2014 dammit!

I said I didn’t have time to pic-spam anymore (and I really don’t), but I still found myself capping away because I love this song and pv so much. I really hope this triple-a-side thing works out well for them.

I was going to start off 2014 with this song. Releasing it so close to the end of the year is kinda cruel. I feel like I’m not going to make it with the year-end review post because of this. I guess technically I really don’t have to say anything. All the other blogs have weighed in on the new song.

And big surprise, I love it. I don’t understand why people keep writing that the song is terrible. Yes, there is some awkward robo-time in there and a peculiar rhythm, but there is also a wonderful, genuine feeling to it. Bro and I were struggling to find what it reminded us of and we settled on this: it’s the 2013 version of Seishun Collection, a lack-luster but sweet song from Platinum Era. They didn’t quite manage to make that one as genuine as this one feels to me. I love that this robo-version did it so well.